A decision record that survived peak season.
A multi-banner retailer chose an ERP against its own peak week, not against a feature checklist.
- 3
- vendors, the same hard scenarios
- 1
- available quantity across store and web
- 11 wks
- from criteria to a signed decision
The situation
System Selection
Vesper Goods
Vesper had outgrown a collection of retail tools and a finance system that learned about sales weeks later. A preferred vendor was already in the building. Merchandising did not believe finance's shortlist, and the board wanted a choice it could explain. Peak season was four months away. A bad selection would have been lived in public.
We kept the preferred vendor in the process and removed its advantage. Three finalists ran the same scripts: a split shipment, a promotion with vendor funding, a store transfer, and a peak-day inventory picture.
Commerce and POS stayed. The ERP decision was about cost, inventory ownership, and the financial close. Total cost included the internal team, not only the license.
The decision record named the dissent from merchandising and the conditions that would reopen the choice. The board signed it. Implementation followed the record, not a new set of opinions.
Dynamics 365 was selected for finance, inventory, and cost. The peak week that followed used one available quantity across store and web. The decision record is still the document new executives are given. No one has asked to rerun the bake-off.
“They made our favorite vendor earn it. The record is the reason the choice did not unravel in month three.”